The cult endured as an ongoing extortion plot, with the women forced to follow Raniere's directions after revealing "highly damaging information about themselves or family members," authorities charged.

Raniere threatened to use the information against the women unless they went along with the self-serving tenets of his bizarre society.

Raniere, 57, who lived outside Albany, received financing for his twisted operation from Clare Bronfman, an heir to the Seagram's liquor fortune, according to authorities. He was jailed pending a bail hearing next Friday.

He was arrested March 25 in Mexico and returned to the United States for prosecution.